


A Night Stroll

by where_am_i_am_here



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Angst, F/F, Female Runner Five, Mute Runner Five, Season 1, Whump, child zom, not so virtuous five, sara's a flirt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 19:26:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13488201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_am_i_am_here/pseuds/where_am_i_am_here
Summary: Five has a bad habit of going on secret runs at night and inadvertently drags someone down with her.---Sort of a prequel to "Rescue Mission", in which I wanted to explore/explain Five's attachment to Sara beyond what's known through canon. Set in Season 1.





	A Night Stroll

**Author's Note:**

> "I don't need to be able to run. I only need to be able to shoot."
> 
> This was a (slightly rewritten) sentence prompt which partly inspired and shaped this fic as well x)

There was barely anyone around. Merely two guards – the required minimum – sat on their outposts from where they overlooked the area around the main gate. The rifles they used to provide covering fire when the runners headed out were leisurely placed besides them. As of now their backs were turned to Runner Five who was sneaking through the darkness, her own back pressed against the wall of the empty and dark dining hall, making her way to that loose spot in the fence.

Technically it was a security breach and Five was wondering how Janine hadn’t found about it yet, considering how meticulous she usually was about running the township.

Five only noticed it by chance, while she was looking for a place where no one came by, a place where she would be _not seen_ for once. At one point she had found a rotten part of the wooden wall replaced by a provisory wired fence. A zombie child was in that moment pressing through where it had pushed and crawled against it until it created an opening, the wire giving in as it forced its arms inside to invade Abel – luckily all by itself. Quickly the runner grabbed a broom she had spotted by the dining hall entrance and forcefully pushed the zombie back outside where it stumbled over its own chubby feet and fell on its back. Having bought a few seconds with that Five ran in circles, and the first somewhat useful thing she could get her hands on was a rope. Without much thinking she wiggled it around the two parts where the wire parted and tied them together with a sturdy knot. She watched the zom pulling at the fence but not understanding the purpose of the rope and even less how to deal with it to reach its tasty meal waiting on the other side; so, after a few suspenseful minutes it let go and wandered off. In the end Five threw the broom as far as she could over the fence as she didn’t want to leave a risk of infection in the township after all.

She knew she should have told someone about it. It would have been the right thing to do… Hell, she was endangering _so_ many people by keeping it to herself.

But it was also Five’s only chance for her very own get-away.

And when she had come back later that day and saw that her makeshift-repair worked just fine, none of the zoms noticing the weak spot, Five had made up her mind.

People in here were already suspicious about Five, and if they knew about her not only secret, but also risky passage to the outside, if someone saw her right now in the middle of the night as she was attempting to leave unnoticed, there was no way she would not be handled as a spy.

But there was also no way Five could stay inside Abel’s walls any longer tonight. She had tossed and turned on her mattress, trying to ignore Four’s – Jody’s – soft snoring, but the thoughts in her head didn’t stop running; so she decided to channel that nervous energy outwards, into her legs, into her muscles, her breath, hoping it would transpire in the air around her and, poof, fly away, and she could come back to rest.

Back… home.

Question mark?

She barely even dared to think it. That word. She had stayed cautious for weeks at this point, waiting for the hospitality to end, for the suspicions to rise until Five would be left to her own devices again. That’s why she remained vigilant; ready to jump up and run as far as possible, like she did every morning. She didn’t want to get used to this town, these people, this life.

Five looked out for the nearby undead and deciding they were at a safe distance, opened the knot that currently single-handedly kept up Abel’s defense. After she slipped through to the other side, she swiftly tied it up again and jogged away from the approaching zoms.

She didn’t carry a light for it could make people aware of her, and she didn’t need it anyway – the route she was taking was ingrained in her memory. There was nothing about it she didn’t knew.

The instant she saw the wide grassy fields before her illuminated by moonlight Five’s shoulders relaxed.

\---

It had been maybe ten minutes of blissful solitude when Five noticed a sound that wasn’t supposed to be there. The little hairs at the back of her neck stood up at the realization that she was being followed. Probably for a while now… It’s possible she hadn’t paid enough attention. And that could cost her her life now.

Gradually another set of steps, slightly out of rhythm with her own, caught up with her.

Abruptly Five turned around to face the pursuer – and to a bright light shining right at her face, making her squint.

“Look at you, Five,” Eight – Sara Smith – grinned, as she lowered the flashlight, adapting her running speed to Five’s. “Out for a night stroll, aren’t you? All alone? Where are you headed?”

This was all kinds of bad. As far as Five could tell, and judging by her previous experiences with Runner Eight, Sara was going to pull her leg.

Five shook her head. _Nowhere. Does Jani-_

“Five, really.” Suddenly she was almost uncharacteristically serious. Although, probably as serious as was appropriate right now. “What are you _doing_? You had a night run before – and I’m the last person to not enjoy some thrill, you know that, but- Hey!“ She sped up, stepping in front of Five who had turned around to resume her jog further while Sara was still talking to her. “Five, don’t make me pull my gun on you.”

The runner stopped again, blankly staring at a point behind Sara, avoiding eye contact.

“You know how this looks, Five,” she continued, voice dangerously low.

Five didn’t move a finger. Here it goes.

“Okay, maybe you _were_ on that helicopter, and maybe you _were_ part of Greenshoot, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility of you infiltrating Abel as an agent after all. And sneaking out like this does not point a flattering light on you, hon.”

 _I just couldn’t sleep._ Five shifted from one foot to the other as she tried to calm down. Sara’s playfully intimidating use of an endearing term – which Five was _not_ going to react to – wasn’t helpful at all. God, she had done so well before Sara showed up. Admitting her anxiousness, even as indirectly as this, made her fidgeting unbearable. She had to move, or she was going to explode.

_Let’s keep running. Standing around we’ll just attract more zombies to come after us._

And with that the runner took off, ignoring Sara’s too obvious hand-on-gun-motion.

“You won’t mind me telling Janine to fix that gap in the wall ASAP, will you?”

Five felt a pang in the back of her throat. _Whatever._

“And about your little excursion? … It’s not the first time, huh?”

_Look, Eight- Why do you keep beating around the bush? If you want to incriminate me, go ahead! But stop prodding me and asking me as if anything about my life was even in the slightest of your concern. If you think I’m a traitor, freaking report me, I don’t care._

“That’s the most I ever saw you say in one take, not sure I even got all of that.” Sara couldn’t help but grin, having certainly gotten all of that. “Are you that passionate about me?”

Five increased her speed.

\---

They silently ran side by side. Five could feel Sara’s piercing eyes on her face, the back of her head, her- everywhere. But she was not going to cave in and admit that she was noticing it; or, god forbid, that it affected her.

Either way, Sara didn’t leave the impression of seriously pursuing her as a suspected spy, which she honestly didn’t expect. If she was in her place, she’d instantly told Janine, and then ran after the to-be-or-not-to-be traitor to figure out who they were working with. But then she wouldn’t have revealed herself before the meeting…

“Seriously though, where are you going?” Sara said unprompted and Five was almost thankful for her interrupting her thoughts. “Shouldn’t we head back soon?”

Five scoffed. If it was up to her-

Suddenly she lost her footing, a force pushing into her side making her stumble and hit the ground, dry rustling leaves, the cracking of branches under her weight as she fell; in the blink of an eye they were covered in darkness, in which a guttural moan – a zombie! Where? – traveled, and then a muffled human scream.

Five landed hard on her forearm, a high-pitched ping running through her bones, from her fingertips up to her shoulders, but she pulled herself together, scrambling, fingers digging into the earth as she fought her way up, mud slippery under the soles of her washed-out trainers. Hurriedly she swung around, gaze shooting through the dark, trying to make out Sara’s silhouette.

“Five,” Sara said, to her left. She saw a figure, sitting on the ground. Suddenly a bright light appeared where she had spotted the shadow, and it reminded her of the good-old-times when she looked at her smartphone in the middle of the night.

 _Are you okay? Bitten?_ , Five asked while stepping closer.

“Yes. No. Actually…”

There was a body next to her; skin decayed and grey, tattered clothes, a knife stuck in its unnaturally bent head. Sara’s hand gripped around the handle and it took her two and a half tries to pull the weapon out.

“That was a sneaky one. Would have gotten you if I hadn’t pushed you aside.”

Five stopped in front of her as she pointed the flashlight away from the defeated zombie and at her foot. She gasped involuntarily, eyes wide.

Sara let out a shaky breath, which turned into a chuckle, slightly verging on desperate. “So, these trainers are ruined…” she mumbled. Blood was trickling through the fabric of her shoe, dropping onto, disappearing into the forest ground as if it were a sponge.

Five wondered if it was a tribute, demanded by the forest, or fate, or … whatever she was supposed to believe in now; for wandering out here so many times when she shouldn’t have, for her streak of good luck that went on so long and needed to be compensated for. But if that truly was the case, it should be herself with a 4-inch nail stuck in her foot…

“What do you think, Five?” Sara forced her back to the reality in which Five stayed unharmed. “Pull it out? Or leave it in and persevere back to Abel?”

Five raised her head in shock. _Do I look like I know!?_

“Okay… let’s leave it in then,” Sara concluded matter-of-factly, taking a deep breath. “Pulling it out would take too long. We’re not that far from Abel anyway and… we have some visitors.” She eyed the staggering silhouettes approaching them from the tree line. “Probably got my scent already. Or whatever they get. Come on, give me a hand, Five. We have to hurry before they close in on us.”

Five did as she was told but wasn’t as convinced that they were going to make it out.

 _You’re not able to stand on that,_ she said, gesturing towards Sara’s injury which she barely could look at without guilt hitting her stomach. _And don’t even get me started on running._

She was right, Sara had to admit. Every little movement- hell, gravity itself pulling at her foot made her wince and keeping quiet was already a challenge. Even if she tried jumping on her healthy leg, she would be far too slow, the risk of falling over far too high. The zoms would catch up in no time. But…

Sara studied Five’s build, height, muscle definition.

… It would work.

“I don’t need to be able to run. I just need to be able to shoot.”

_Come again?_

“You’re going to give me a piggyback ride.”

Five’s gut reaction was to call it a waste of time, absurd, stupid; but one look at the ever-approaching undead made her turn around, slightly squatting, for Sara to wrap her arms around her shoulders – the flashlight on one, the gun on the other side – and press herself against Five’s back, jumping off the ground with her good foot so Five caught her by the insides of her knees.

“Hah, there we go,” Sara said as she settled in.

Almost losing balance because of the additional weight Five turned around on her heels and headed in the opposite direction, roughly towards the way back to Abel. Sara was heavier than she seemed, and it was only a few minutes until Five felt her arms and knees shaking.

They were barely past the trees.

Goddamnit. She had no right to complain. She got Sara into this in the first place, no matter how she looked at it, so she had to grit her teeth and bear it. In the most literal sense possible.

\---

“Five, they’re getting closer.”

A slight shift as Sara raised the flashlight and turned her upper body to get an overview of their surroundings. They had left most of the open field behind them now and were approaching an uphill, one of the last landmarks to guide them to Abel, and also one of the more challenging paths in that area. No wonder that group of shamblers from before started gaining on them. “Can you speed up?”

Five let out a silent groan and channeled her remaining willpower into her legs.

There, in the distance. The little red light signifying Abel’s position, looking like a beacon at the shore as they were fighting their way through a sea of darkness, trying not to drown in it – that’s at least the romantic impression Five got from listening to other Abel residents sometimes. She never knew how to feel about it herself. True, Abel did save her… but it was just coincidence, not fate leading here there. No need to be undyingly loyal all of a sudden.

“Good pace, Five,” Sara continued as she glanced around as much as possible without losing her balance. “I don’t know if we’ll shake them off, but we could stay ahead of them. At least, we’re not picking up new ones.”

Five swallowed down her insecurity, suspiciously tasting of _If-I-can-keep-up-the-pace_. The muscles in her shoulders were burning as if they were about to get torn, and her hands had gone numb a while ago. But she restored her resolve by catching a quick glimpse at Sarah’s bloody sneaker and recalling the lack of complaints.

\---

She was drenched in sweat and panting by the time she could make out the shape of the township with her bare eyes. Five had kept quite a constant pace, but she was dangerously close to reaching the end of her resources. Abruptly she stopped in her tracks and crouched down to let Sara slip off her back – which she did without further comments.

“We’re about a minute ahead of them,” she said as she half-lead Five forwards, half-used Five as a crutch.

Five could barely see where they were going as she was still trying to catch her breath, pushed and pulled by Sara, and when she finally raised her head she stood in front of the not-so-secret gap in the fence and Eight had crouched down to open the knot she had tied the fence with before following her. But her hands were trembling heavily, and the rope kept slipping through her fingers. Sara groaned in frustration when Five pushed her out of the way and opened it within a second.

Then she pulled Sara forward by the sleeve, urging her to get inside first, as the moans of the undead came closer and closer. It was at this point that Five turned around to face someone familiar. And it was that this point that the child zom she recognized from weeks ago crashed onto its knees and grabbed at her ankles, its cold fingers pushing into her skin – don’t break it don’t break it – as she thrashed about in a panicked attempt to shake it off, and she turned around on her back, barely escaping the child’s grip and the succeeding bite that turned into an unsuccessful snapping of empty air, as she crawled backwards through the gap that Sara still held open.

Five passed but the zombie followed closely, even sped up, and the wired fence hitting its face as Sara let go off it was of no effect; some of its dead skin got stuck on sharp edges as it pushed through vehemently, hungry.

A flash movement out of the corner of her eye and there was Sara swinging an empty trash can at the zom’s head as if she was hitting a golf ball, and the fence softly chimed at the impact, but miraculously didn’t sustain more damage; and there was a crack as the zombie’s neck broke, its face now permanently turned to the sky. Sara didn’t wait long and while balancing on one foot forced the child’s hands outside until it was about half a meter away.

Five shot forward and used the rope that had been in her hand the whole time to close the gap once again, just in time to evade the multiple hands reaching for her. Their followers had arrived. Now the state of the fence was truly critical.

Slowly the runners slid their backs down the cool wall of the dining hall until they sat on the ground to take a short breather.

In the end, Sara didn't even need to shoot.

Five forced herself to look at Sara’s outstretched leg, her injured foot, and again she could only think about being so much more deserving of what happened to her. And Sara’s face was quite pale now, sweat forming on her skin, her hands holding onto patches of grass beside her as she bit her lower lip. Five felt a little sick, watching her in pain like that. Knowing it was her fault.

_Shouldn’t we get you to the med tent? To the doc?_

Sara sighed. “Just a minute.”

_Shouldn’t we tell Janine about this? The zoms-_

“Five, just a minute, alright?”

Sara sighed again, and Five was only sort of sorry she couldn’t leave her in peace. She had to talk to her as long as they were still alone. She needed to know.

_How did you notice?_

“Notice what?”

 _Me._ Five stopped, thought for a second. Changed her mind. _Me leaving._

Sara shrugged, a smirk sneaking onto her face instead of answering. With that she pushed herself up, leaning on the wall until she stood on one leg. Five stood up as well to support her as they made their way to wake up Maxine.

“Why did you leave though?” Sara asked back. Her mysterious smile had made way for furrowed brows.

Five didn’t know what face she was making at that question but apparently it prompted Sara to pat her shoulder with her free hand. It was awkward and kind of untimely, but strangely comforting.

“Do you think we’re looking for reasons to get rid of you?”

Again, Five felt Sara’s eyes on herself. Again, she didn’t meet them.

“Are you waiting to be cast out after all?”

She stared at the white tent as they headed for it, the largest tent the people here could scrape up, providing space for just around eight hospital beds, and she wondered about what story her and Sara would tell the doctor – if they _were_ to tell a story. Maybe Sara would square up and do all the talking, as she was now.

“I don’t know how happy you’ll be about this,” she said, unfazed by Five’s apparent lack of attention.

Only a few more steps to the med tent. The light inside was on; so they probably didn’t have to actively look for Dr. Myers.

“But you can believe me when I say that most people here – and you’d be surprised who – would rather look for silly excuses to _keep_ you here. Five. You’re needed. You’re stuck with us.”

Five swallowed the lump in her throat. _Maybe that’s the problem_.

“What are you talking-“

She was cut off mid-speech when the entry to the tent flapped open dramatically.

\---

Janine was far from happy to be awakened by the message that there was a gap in the township’s defense; on the other hand, she would have been even unhappier to find zombies leaking inside and attacking the citizens while she had been asleep. She immediately ordered to use as much of their resources as possible to fortify the fence, and she sent scouts to look for more weak points in their walls. In the end the measures taken continued until long after sunrise.

The two runners had come clear about Five’s secret runs from the get-go. And they had been right, Janine considered banning Five when she told her for how long she had used the gap in secrecy. It was only Sara’s side of the story – which included a thorough report on her personal observations of Five’s character – that swayed her to begrudgingly give her another chance. It was Five’s luck that Janine would trust Sara with her own life.

“Do you wish to stay in Abel Township, Runner Five?” she asked, and her voice filled the whole room.

Five had watched the exchange between them the whole time and had tried to understand, for the first time truly understand, what all of _this_ was about. Why they were here. Why she was here. And she found, only because her arriving here had been random, it didn’t mean it had been pointless, too.

She looked at Sara, and Sara had a little smile on her lips, and Five blushed.

_Yes._


End file.
